


Akuze

by FallingOverSideways



Category: Alien Series, Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Gore, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mass Effect Big Bang 2020, Minor Character Death, Shepard Twins (Mass Effect), Violence, Xenomorphs (Alien), fic with art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:28:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25057729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingOverSideways/pseuds/FallingOverSideways
Summary: Years ago Akuze was the biggest coverup the Alliance ever accomplished and John Shepard learned that in space, no one can hear you scream. Now he has to save the galaxy again from a threat just as terrifying as the Reapers.~“Jane,” Shepard interjected. “Kaidan’s down there.”~
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian/Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

The high rise apartment assigned to Shepard was normally for visiting VIPs, diplomats, high ranking officers, ambassadors and even the rare celebrity. It could be argued they gave it to him because of his own celebrity status, but no one with their head on straight could look past the fact that he was a prisoner.

Fancy and comfortable with large windows looking out over the Alliance’s base in Vancouver and it’s waterfront, at least it was a prison with a view that let in plenty of sunlight, even on rainy days. 

The little boy was out in the patio garden again, just a few levels below and across from him on top one of the Alliance’s residential towers. Shepard didn’t know whose kid it was, but he’d seen the child off and on since he’d been given his new home a few months ago. Despite always being alone, the kid was easily lost in whatever games he played.

The pastime John had created in watching the kid could be seen as creepy to others. He’d gotten the eyebrow from Vega once or twice, but he could squint and superimpose memories of Mindoir over the scene as the boy spun around with his model ships and imagination. Jane had been the wild child off chasing horses and bullies, and he’d always been happy to stay home with their aunts, building things and getting into different kinds of mischief.

The child was also a good reminder it was all worth it. The sacrifices. The night terrors. Dying and coming back only to work for Cerberus. Losing loved ones to death or, well, situational circumstances.

They’d done it. 

It took three years and two different lifetimes, but Commander John Shepard and Spectre Jane Shepard managed to stall the Reapers in their tracks. John had passed through the Omega 4 relay with the SR-2 Normandy to destroy the human Reaper and the Collectors; Jane went to the Bahak System with a strike team and took out Harbinger itself, keeping it from triggering the next cycle. Forever the Reapers would wait at the edge of Dark Space until they could find a way to destroy them.

Or some asshat set off a signal to wake them.

It was all at the cost of the Bahak System. Jane had managed to disable an indoctrinated Kenson and her crew soon enough to warn the Batarians in the system, but many did not heed her warning and some were too slow.

John had turned himself over to Hackett as soon as he dropped off his crew and the Admiral had reluctantly taken him into custody. There’d been no word from his sister. And Kenson, to put it bluntly, was batshit insane these days. He’d been questioned by the Alliance and a representative of the Council over and over and over and over….

The same questions, perhaps phrased differently and he was beginning to sense a coverup forming despite all the witnesses.

The Shepards were about to be fucking buried. Not assassinated, they had too many friends with dirty hands for that attempt. But-

“Hey, Loco, you folding?”

Quirking his mouth, John looked down at his winning hand. “Hm. You tell me.” He looked back up and stared into his ‘guard’s’ eyes. The first time Vega had played with him, the other marine had been thrown by the intense way he gamed before smirking and taking up the challenge. The guy had potential, and they’d been playing these games while Vega acted as his guard/bodyguard so he could find out how much. 

The Omni Tool on his non-dominant arm flashed and John looked down in surprise as the lock on it from the Alliance disappeared and instantly the main menu started updating rapidly: news alerts, messages, the latest version of the extranet, programs, his military ID.

Which had been on suspension until a moment ago.

“The fuck,” Vega’s eye were wide on him. “Sir.” Because this wasn’t protocol.

This was Jane or Liara coming to spare him, Garrus or Miranda for a mission, even maybe, just maybe-

An Alliance emergency alert pinged both their Omni Tools. Eyes on Vega, John answered and soon Admiral David Anderson’s voice was booming in the apartment. “Welcome back, Shepard. I wish it was under better circumstances. Get to the shipyard’s debriefing room, double time.”

Heart racing, Shepard reached for his jacket. “Aye aye, sir.”

“Vega.”

The kid, roughly the size of a small krogan, snapped to attention, all playful insolence gone. “Aye, sir!”

“You're joining him.”

“Yes, sir!”

The call ended and they nodded to each other as Shepard bolted out the door, thoughts racing. All those bored months he spent in Alliance custody with nothing but books, vids and escorted gym trips paid off as he flat out ran with his adrenaline spiking. He had to KNOW, because…

It couldn’t be the Reapers. Whatever reason had kept his sister away, be it an important mission or amusement at his situation, she would have found a way to warn him. And while it was a worse case scenario, all he could think of...

There hadn’t been any thresher maws on Akuze.

People looked up and skittered to hug the walls as the two men came tearing through hallways, a few pissed off civilians, but most of them wide eyed marines that recognized him.

"Ok, Anderson, I'm here. Now how about telling me what's going on?" Shepard fell into step with the Admiral as soon as the doors to the shipyard opened, Vega hot on his heels and barely out of breath.

"You're not going to like it. Hell, you've probably already guessed it, but it's worse than you know." Anderson marched them down more long hallways to a small conference room where Udina was waiting on the vidcom with the other Councilors. 

Taking in the expressions on everyone's faces, Shepard turned to Udina and growled, "What the hell did you do?"

"What was necessary-"

With a quick hack on his Omni-Tool, Shepard hit the mute on Udina's com and turned to the other Councilors, ignoring the fact he wasn’t actually a Spectre. He and Jane were a package deal, something the Council and Alliance benefited from and possibly the reason why they’d chosen them: one to be the First Human Spectre and one to be Commander of the Normandy SR-1, a ship that was more than just a symbol of truce and growth between races.

"Tell me."

"We read your redacted file on the ‘xenomorphs’," the asari Councilor, Tevos, glared at Anderson, "but not until it was released to us. Until AFTER we'd had reports of colonies going dark on Akuze. We sent Saren Arterius to investigate the situation, but we hadn't heard from him in days. He was there long enough to confirm some of your story and that there was no activity from the planet’s main colony. Or its extended colonies." Interesting that the Council thought the turian recovered enough from his indoctrination to receive missions again.

"Nihlus Kryik was sent to follow up, but your Ambassador wanted a human face," Sparatus continued, mandibles uncharacteristically twitching in irritation. "We sent your file to Spectre Alenko and Admiral Anderson gave him a ship and crew to investigate."

There were a few times in his life where terrible news was delivered to him, where time slowed to a haunting crawl up his throat, his stomach turning to lead so it wouldn’t rebel. 

Like a bullet, Shepard’s gaze shot to Anderson, “Kaidan? You sent KAIDAN to that hell hole?! Knowing what was there? And colonizing it again? I thought the Alliance was SMARTER than that!”

The remorse on Anderson’s face abated some of the betrayal Shepard was feeling. “It was the Weyland Corp that re-established the colony and built it up and I only provided Major Alenko the ship and the information the Council didn’t have access to.” The older man gave back a hard stare at the obvious familiarity, “Shepard-“

“Give me a ship.” God, he never wanted to go back. He’d had nightmares that terrorized the Alliance psychologist that’d signed gag orders. For years, every shadow held a hiding xenomorph, ready to pounce. 

Or worse. One of their eggs.

But if the colonists’ fate wasn’t motivation enough for him to bite back acid fear and charge in, having one of his old crew, having Kaidan, was the final nail in the coffin. Hopefully not literally, but Shepard had learned not to hold his breath.

Sometime between the Shepard twins’ ‘reunion’ with Kaidan and Ashley on Horizon and defeating the Collectors, the Council had decided to elect another human Spectre. Vega had been the one to tell him about it, how they made a big thing out of it all. He’d been curious what kind of man he was to garner the attention of the Council. Shepard had stared at the images on Vega’s Omni Tool wistfully, Kaidan looking handsome in the formal wear, the biotic’s hands fidgeting with the tell tale urge to rub at his amp port nervously.

It wasn’t pride he felt when he saw they’d picked the newly minted Major. Satisfaction, maybe, that they’d gotten their heads out of their asses and thought to have another human Spectre elected while Jane was off god knows where and he rotted in his ‘cell’. That they’d picked someone perfect for the role, even if Kaidan could be a stubborn ass with his integrity sometimes.

Ma and Papa Alenko were probably beside themselves.

“Anything, Anderson. I’ll-“

The Admiral raised a placating hand. “I’ve already got you one, she’s docked right now and getting stocked up. I want to be close on this one, but I’ve got Hackett on my ass about the batarian riots right now. I want to be kept in the loop, every step of the way. I want a report every hour from the moment you arrive and I’m stationing patrols in the system, ready at a moment's notice. Commander Ripley is in charge and is being read in, I’ve sent her com info.”

“Captain Shepard, you will also be keeping us updated. Too many Spectres are missing,” Valern interjected, the salarian’s large eyes blinking somberly. “These beasts must be contained.”

“Captain?” Shepard turned to look at Udina, who had given up trying to override the hack and watched resignedly, then Anderson. There was no way-

“Welcome back, Commander. Congratulations.” -but the Admiral was holding a pair of dog tags aloft, which Shepard took slowly in his shock. Vega was watching with a smirk. “Obviously, there will be some backlash since the trial hasn’t concluded yet, but you’re long overdue and some things carry more weight than others. Don’t worry about Kenson or the batarians. Focus on the current mission, and do what needs doing. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” Shepard all but whispered as he mechanically put on the tags and tucked them under the collar of his shirt.

The Councilors nodded to them and then the vidcom winked out, Udina still scowling at him. “How the hell did he take your place anyways, sir?”

The Admiral sighed heavily and gestured for the other two marines to follow him. “What else? Politics. Hackett wanted me available on the Reaper threat and call Udina a weasel, but the man is good at his job. For now, anyways.”

The long hallway opened up to a garden patio where Alliance personnel were taking their breaks on its benches. They stared, slack jawed, as they recognized who was charging to the launch bay as if the devil himself were there.

Feeling distant pride and amusement, Shepard stayed on Anderson’s immediate six as they navigated hallways until they came to the gate for boarding crew members. Glimpsing the ship outside the window, Shepard almost stumbled behind his mentor and he could hear Vega give a low whistle.

The Normandy SR-2 had been repainted with Alliance colors, gleaming with the setting sun on the busy tarmac. Loading vehicles were running the last supplies onto the ship as they finished fueling and pre flight checks. She was beautiful, and Shepard swallowed back the emotion that came with the memories.

“We haven’t had a lot of time to properly retrofit her, but we managed to replace all the Cerberus tech that could send any information back to them and tailored her to be an Alliance vessel. Normally, you’d have a say in picking your XO and crew, but we’re short on time...” Anderson looked over his shoulder, grinning at him. “I don’t think you’ll complain, however.”

Boots hitting the deck, salutes being fired at them left and right, they made their way up to the bridge. “Lieutenant, Commander. We nearly ready?”

Ashley snapped a perfect salute at him and Joker’s was half assed at best. “Aye aye, sir. We’ll be ready to take off in under an hour. We’re just waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive.” Her brown eyes were wary on Shepard’s, but her small grin was genuine. “Welcome aboard, Captain.”

“Did everyone know about this before me?” He had to fight a large grin at having her back.

“You were pretty much living under a rock. Sir.” Fingers dancing over her Omni Tool, she sent him the ship’s manifest.

“Good luck, son.” Anderson clapped him on the shoulder and left them to it as he started reading through it. 

“Who are we waiting on?”

“That would be me. Wouldn’t do to show up unfashionably early, now would it?” Sauntering towards them was a very familiar turian figure, towing a personal locker behind him. 

“Garrus?! What the hell are you doing here?” Shepard clasped forearms with his friend.

The turian’s mandibles flared in a grin. “Coming to help you save Alenko’s ass. He contacted me a week ago when he started investigating Akuze, but I wasn’t able to leave Palaven at the time. You’re not the only one who was under house arrest, you know.”

“Who else did he contact?”

Garrus shrugged and walked with him and Ashley as they made their way through the ship, Shepard’s eyes validating everything that was on the manifest. “Most of the old crew I think. Mordin is working on the samples the Alliance had under lock and key.” The turian tilted his head. “Here’s hoping the Alliance didn’t screw over every truce in the galaxy with this.”

Shepard sighed heavily. “Tell me about it.” Still, having the salarian was a huge asset he wasn’t expecting. Maybe they’d all survive this. “How did Mordin get here?”

“Spirits if I know. Maybe the Major contacted him as well?”

Ashley was shaking her head as they entered onto deck three. “He showed up as soon as the Normandy was placed under your command. Joker and Chakwas vouched for him so I gave him full access to the lab. The Alliance didn’t have time to disassemble that or the armory yet.”

Garrus hummed, “I’ll just go get set up then. Maybe check the main battery and see how much of my hard work your tech pyjaks undid.” With that, the turian shouldered one of his gear bags and made for his old haunts. 

Checking the crew list, he recognized most of the names, only a few were new. Some were a welcome surprise. “Liara‘s on board?”

Smirking, Ashley nodded towards the quarters formerly belonging to Miranda Lawson. “Made herself at home shortly before Solus. She’s been monitoring all the data and videos we’ve collected, as well as transmissions going back six months. She can give you a full debrief on the colonies and the planet itself.”

On deck four, he learned engineers Donnelly and Daniels had been pardoned by Spectre Alenko and were back to it, bantering as they worked.

Getting back in the elevator, he selected deck five as he read the name at the bottom out loud. “EDI?”

“Yes, Commander?”

He felt like laughing. “Good to have you on board still.”

“Appreciated, Commander. It is nice to still be here. Jeff had me act as a VI so they wouldn’t try to remove me from the Normandy. Miranda Lawson also provided me with a mobile platform that she and Spectre Shepard discovered on one of her missions. It appears to be a prototype, but works efficiently enough.”

“A what?” 

The doors slid open to the shuttle bay, revealing the neat row of lockers and storage crates on one side and a Kodiak shuttle on the other. A man with an easy smile and startling blue eyes looked up to snap a salute as a VERY feminine, VERY attractive synthetic with an orange visor turned to look at them as they entered and spoke. “A mobile platform. I’ll be able to join you on missions this way. I am efficient in small arms and technological weapons.”

“I’m not sure how you hid this from the Alliance, but it’ll be good to have you in the field.” Shepard wasn’t entirely sure of his fate after Akuze, but the fact he’d been promoted was a good sign they’d let him keep his commission, right?

“Anyone hear from Jane?”

“Had drinks with her a couple weeks ago,” Ashley murmured. “She was going to meet up with Jack about her students.”

“Wait, Jack has students? The psychotic biotic Jack?”

Ashley shrugged as he continued down the list, wanting to be in orbit as soon as possible. “I never met her, but Jane says she works over at Grissom now.”

“Ok. Lieutenant Cortez? Great to meet you!” Shepard shook his hand. “You’re our shuttle pilot?”

“And requisitions officer and in charge of maintaining the armory alongside yours truly,” Vega piped up.

Shepard side-eyed him and says, “Thank you, Lieutenant.” For the first time ever, he spied a blush creeping across the dark caramel skin as Cortez grinned at him. James Vega may have been his babysitter while he’d been confined on base, but they’d shared a lot of time and stories, some more raunchy than others. A couple of them had contained Steve, but he’d never made the leap to possible love interest. “It says here you’re the best of the best. I hate to say it, but we’re going to need that with what’s coming. Welcome aboard.”

“Thanks, Commander. It’s an honor.”

Shepard gave a mirthless smile. “Did they brief any of you on what we’re getting into?”

EDI tilted her head at them, “All crew were notified of the posting and that it was a dangerous, Priority One mission with you leading it. Admiral Anderson vetted everyone himself, but planned on you taking the reigns for the full debrief as the ‘expert witness’.”

“Great.” Muttering to himself, Shepard sidelined the manifest and sent out a message for a mandatory meeting, giving time for Mordin and Liara to organize their data. 

“Think I’ll set up here, Commander.” Vega gestured to a nook beside the requisitions and modifications stations. “If that’s alright with you.”

“I’ll leave that up to Cortez, Lieutenant.” Shepard winked at him, nodded at Cortez and EDI, then returned to the elevator with Ashley to continue inspections.

“Good to see you haven’t changed much, skipper.”

Ah, that damned nickname, never would he have thought he’d miss it so much. A grin tugged at the side of her mouth as they rode up, her eyes hesitant on him.

“You have my permission to tease the hell out of Vega, his ego can take it. And he probably needs the push.”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

All that’s left is the loft. Entering the captain’s cabin, he expected it to be gutted of every fancy Cerberus upgrade. Instead, it’s exactly how he remembered it, Boo the space hamster included. Ashley watched him as he took stock of the fish still in their tank, the model ships still suspended in glass, the opulent bed and entertaining area.

Hell, his sister’s N7 helmet from Alchera was still sitting on the table by the couch. 

Ashley watched him closely. “You ok, skipper?”

“Yeah,” but he was distracted by memories. The ones that haunted him whenever he retreated to his cabin for rest or paperwork. He changed it to, “I’ll be fine.”

Sighing, Ashley crossed her arms and leaned against the aquarium. “The cabin wasn’t at the top of their priorities. Honestly, I don’t think they even knew what to do with it yet. EDI’s been feeding the space hamster.” She pauses and takes a heavy breath. “We ok?”

“What?” Shepard turned to look at her.

“A lot went down on Horizon. I know Kaidan felt conflicted as hell as soon as he cooled down. Then Anderson gave us the update on the situation when we got to the Citadel. Explained how Cerberus put you guys back together, kept you in a coma at first to control Jane. About the Collectors. Still had my doubts for a bit, though.”

“What changed your mind?” For once, his body language didn’t scream confident commander.

Looking around, she gestured at the room. “Every inch of this cabin. Not a Cerberus insignia in sight, nerdy model ships, the photo frames. And when EDI told us about Boo? Classic John Shepard.” The look she sent next was weighted. “The huge collection of liquor was new, though.”

“Yeah, well. Don’t worry. Had more than enough time to dry out on base.”

“Not what I was concerned about, skip.” She sighed deeply. “I’m not sorry about our decision, but I AM sorry about how it went down. We should have at least listened to you and Jane, but… it was hard, Shepard. Your death, hers? We lost more than our Commander and Spectre.”

Ashley met his gaze, held it. “Kaidan lost more.”

The words struck Shepard like a blow. “What. What do you-“

“Oh, come on! Don’t pull that shit with me. You were both too career driven to do anything about it, and I respected you for it, but you two were close. You were eye fucking so much Wrex and Garrus asked me about ‘human homosexual mating rituals’. He was devastated after Alchera. Just, he’s still the same stubborn LT. He misses you, don’t give him the chance to put his foot in his mouth this time.”

Shepard nodded, not sure how to respond.

She managed a grin and punched him on the shoulder. “This where we hug it out?”

Snorting, Shepard surprised her by actually doing just that. “Ok, now let’s pretend it never happened. Jane might get jealous.”

Ashley laughed, stepping back from him. “No worries there. I told you nothing ever really happened between us, but damn, if I was ever going to explore my sexuality.”

“Oh god, please don’t. I don’t ever want to hear about her sexcapades.” Shepard shuddered and wandered deeper into the room, the familiar sight of the shields going up in the skylight over the bed. “Is that my duffle?”

“Yep! Convenient of you not to unpack much. As soon as Anderson paged me, I had Cortez pick up your Go bag.”

“Thanks.” There wasn’t much in there, turning the ship over cost him most of his things to stay behind, but he pulled out the digital photo frame he was allowed to keep, trailing a finger over it before setting it down by the bed.

“Any time, Shepard,” she replied, watching the images change from one crew to the next, glimpses of the twins here and there.

An alert pinged on his Omni Tool, verifying all crew on board and accounted for, as well as all supplies stocked and ready. Another ping from Cortez and Vega gave him an update on the weapons and armor loaded and primed. Chakwas had already loaded up her report to the manifest, proficient as always and the pings kept coming.

There was nothing quite like a crew that ran like a well oiled machine.

“All right.” John toggled his earpiece. “Joker?”

“Yeah, Commander?”

“Take her out as soon as you finish your pre flights. I want to be there ASAP.”

“You got it, boss.”


	2. Chapter 2

The news reels described quite the tale in the Akuze coverup, spared no epic moment or tragedy that might get the public on their side. They had been sent to check up on the new colony that had gone dark, that was true. The prefabs weren’t even completely assembled when they arrived, the air still charged with the terraforming units to make the planet more sustainable for colonists and farming.

They had found a ghost town, the equipment still working, meals and projects scattered like the people were chased off by someone...or something. At first they found nothing more than dead ends and more questions. Lieutenant Gorman was the newly commanding officer, some wet behind the ears tool that got where he was by influence and no experience, and he ordered them to bunk down for the night when they started going round in circles.

Shepard still remembered how Sergeant Apone side eyed him and his decision, digi-cigar clamped in at the corner of his mouth, and ordered a perimeter setup and sleep to be taken in shifts. 

He’d been part of the first shift: talking shit with Vasquez and Hudson in a card game as the moons rose in the red-violet sky, sharing coffee with Hicks over the camping unit and wishing for something stronger. The nights were cold there and he knew from a life on the streets that whiskey would have better warmed him up. Later he fell asleep in the grass, nose tickling at their scent and totally oblivious to the way Apone prowled the edges of their camp and kept checking in with Ferro back at the LZ.

Hours later he’d woken to the sound of distant weapons fire and screaming. The next few days were emblazoned in his memory forever.

There’s a quote he can't quite recall, something about being successful and no matter what, someone helped get you there. Well, the only reason he’d survived was because they’d all done their damnedest to keep each other alive. Shepard had fought all these years since to not let those sacrifices be in vain and carried that lesson with him in how he ran his ship.

  
One hour into FTL, he had them all around the conference table, which was still installed between the lab and the armory. A bit of the old crew, the newer crew and the latest crew. On the holoscreen over the table was the image of Akuze made iconic after many news articles waxed poetry about Shepard’s survival. 

“All of you here have heard about Akuze, the thresher maw attack, the missing colonists and how out of a squad of fifty marines, I was the only survivor. Well, I have the great pleasure today to tell you the conspiracy theorists are right and it’s all Bull Shit.”

Shepard couldn’t help but get a perverse pleasure out of their reaction, finally able to speak about it.

“There were never any thresher maws on Akuze. We got to the colony to find it empty, that much is true, but we did find the colonists.”

The xenomorphs had started the attack that fateful night, leading them on a merry chase to get back living members of their team, right into the heart of their nest.

Clicking through the files on his Omni Tool, he brought up the shocking images of the colonists his team had recorded. Viscous webs of hardened mucus caged human figures against walls covered in some sort of scaly black surface. Each colonist was in various stages of decay or stasis, the dead ones with their chests a bloody, gaping ruin. The images covered scenes of the floor by their feet, where huge eggs sat, the opened tops of them revealing fleshy insides and more wet mucus.

“These eggs housed a parasite that would attach itself to your face.” Another click, and there was the skittering image of a nightmare that looked like a cross between an albino spider and a horseshoe crab. “They’d wrap their tail around the victim’s neck and lock their legs around their head, then deliver an embryo down their throat that would incubate before bursting out of the chest. The face huggers died immediately after implantation.”

“Holy fuck.”  
“Spirits!”  
“Most insidious.”

More clicks, more gruesome pictures, now littered with not only colonists, but marines as well. Sloughs of thin skin of varying size molted everywhere, dead face huggers on their back with their legs curled up, the cages of mucus no longer visible as the footage proceeded outside the ‘nest’.

“In a manner of hours, the chest-bursters shed their skin and evolved into this.” Shepard paused, staring at the last picture of skin hanging from pipes that carried the water supply, Private Drake’s bloody arm dangling like a trophy next to it. Taking a deep breath, he clicked over to the next image.

The images were blurry as the beasts moved with terrifying speed, a shine of black here and there, a flash of teeth. Shepard paused it on the clearest shot captured during those hellish 48 hours. It still wasn’t a clear enough image for everyone to get an understanding of the anatomy, so he pulled up a compiled digital drawing, complete with notations.

The creature was over seven feet tall, hunched over it’s legs in an almost catlike way, each hand and foot ending in long talons. It’s shape was skeletal with stretched sinew, black with spines and covered in some sort of slime. A tail as long as it was tall, with a spiked end that waved around its body. The head held no eyes, dome shaped and elongated over it’s back for a couple of feet. It’s jaw was covered in translucent, jagged teeth that could unhinge and drop to reveal another mouth. The smaller secondary mouth was used in place of a tongue, the digital image demonstrated how it snapped out with alarming speed, the teeth just as sharp and deadly as the others boasted.

Shepard didn’t have to look around to know most of the crew were holding their breath, while Chakwas and a few others tried to study it clinically. He hadn’t felt such tension in a room since before the Reapers stopped breathing down their necks.

“The eggheads who studied the information I brought back called them xenomorphs, based on their evolutionary nature. They are quick, fast learners with no compunctions about sacrificing themselves to achieve their goals. Their blood had some sort of acid in it, we couldn’t kill them with normal weapons except from a distance. They laid traps for us. Stranded us in rooms filled with unopened eggs to impregnate us. Guided us deeper into nests with colonists we thought we could still save.”

Looking around, focusing on their reactions to ignore the fine tremble in his hands, he felt EDI subtly touch his lower back out of view. The gesture of support let him know his vitals were getting out of control and he forced another slow breath while everyone took in the ghastly images.

“Forty three marines, five hundred fifty eight colonists died on that planet,” he spoke quietly. “The only reason the rest of us made it to the LZ was because eighteen of those marines died protecting it. We bombed the colony from orbit with so much firepower, we almost caused a nuclear winter.”

All eyes were focused on him now and he fought to keep his voice even.

“But not until after we fought the xenomorphs that snuck aboard during the rescue. Six more marines and three mercenaries hired by the Alliance for the emergency retrieval died killing just two of them. No one in the Alliance has ever seen anything like them. I was given a gag order as they continued to investigate the ‘ordeal’ and was told the investigation was ‘ongoing’. Liara?”

The asari stepped forward, tapping at her Omni Tool. “Weyland Corp bought the rights to the colony eight years ago and have been building up and out. No one else wanted to touch it because of the Alliance’s thresher maw story. However, the Andromeda Initiative entered into an agreement with Weyland a few years ago. Their plan was ambitious: deep space exploration and colonization in the Andromeda cluster, a plan in the event the Reapers could not be stopped. They needed the land for training and building their arks and equipment.”

The dark images of the xenomorphs disappeared to be replaced by updated maps of Akuze and the surrounding orbit. “They have one main colony a short distance away from the original, with many offsite testing grounds and research labs, all with housing. There is one space station with access to the four arks they’re building and at least twenty active satellites.” She nodded to Shepard. “I brought equipment with me that can help scan the area for survivors so our attention isn’t divided, but we will have to have teams to deploy the drones in person.”

He nodded back at her, adjusting the teams he’d tentatively arranged on his Omni Tool accordingly.

“Digging deeper, I found out that Weyland buying the land was not a coincidence. They’ve been looking to expand their company for some time and saw this as an opportunity to investigate a new species without getting their hands dirty. To my knowledge, the pathfinders and heads of the Andromeda Initiative were in the dark on this matter.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see lips bitten against exclamations and Ashley scowling darkly. Oh yeah, his team would be more than ready to follow up with Weyland after they finished this mission. As Liara continued to speak, he couldn’t help but be curious about the AI’s mission.

“It was almost a month ago that the station, named the Nexus, could not hail the main colony. They fell silent within hours of notifying the Citadel about their attempts and sending a party down to investigate. Spectre Saren Arterius was sent to investigate.” 

A few looks were sent Shepard’s way as the turian’s portrait showcased, knowing how the twins hated how he was excused of his crimes due to his indoctrination. 

The holo clicked over to a report with sections highlighted for them to read. “He made it into the Nexus without any trouble, but it was empty, just like the original transcripts from Shepard’s mission. There’s information in the report annotating that there was some sort of AI on board, it tried to prevent him from investigating anything further.” She clicked over the report’s passages, going through the images and video feeds Saren had sent the Council in his report. “It took him awhile, but he managed to disable the AI, SAM. I believe it was the only thing standing between him and the xenomorphs. Nothing was reported after that.”

New reports popped on the screen, showing the face of another familiar turian. “The Council waited a week before sending in Spectre Nihlus Kryik. He actually volunteered when he heard they were still having problems hailing the colonists and Saren. While names were not reported, my data informed me he was not alone and traveled with a small group, possibly human. They seemed better informed, turned SAM back on and managed to confirm the presence of a hostile enemy of unknown origin, before they also failed to report back in.”

Images flickered by of the Council and Admiral Hackett. Shepard had given permission to Liara for full disclosure to everyone on board, refusing to let anyone be in the dark. There were a few wondering glances at the asari’s knowledge, but only those that were with them fighting the Collectors knew about her connections to the Shadow Broker.

“The Council had had enough and confronted Udina and the Alliance head on, now knowing there was more going on with Akuze than possible thresher maws or raiders. Admiral Hackett burned some bridges to get the original files to them to prevent a diplomatic incident. To save face, Udina volunteered Spectre Shepard to go investigate with a full marine detail, but she’d gone dark for a mission and they couldn’t find her.” Yeah, and to escape the very position John was in.

An image of Kaidan in his Alliance blues appeared and made Shepard’s chest tighten. To his side, he could see Ashley balling her fists and Garrus shifting his stance uneasily. Joker let loose a line of expletives and had to be stopped by EDI when he went to pound his fist on the table. 

“Spectre Kaidan Alenko, formerly of the Normandy SR-1, demanded he be given the mission with full disclosure. Admiral Anderson arranged access to let him contact Captain Shepard for details, but he refused.” Shepard and Ashley stared at her in surprise, and Liara gave a wry grin. “It seemed he knew more than he was letting on. Did you tell him about Akuze?”

Everyone from the SR-1 stared at him. “I told him enough for him to realize Akuze was a cover up.” God, to think Kaidan might have taken this on, to purposely leave him in the dark over some stupid notion of sparing him the anxiety. Suddenly he regretted ever admitting to the night terrors Akuze had given him for years. “That it was worse than the story they gave.” Fuck.

Clearing her throat to get everyone’s attention back and off of him, Liara continued, “Kaidan was better prepared.” She nodded to Garrus. “He contacted allies left and right, commissioned a ship, The Nostromo, from the Alliance and made sure the armory was well stocked. He didn’t submit a list of those he took with him aside from the ship’s crew, but Valern made some noise against bringing a krogan, so I believe Urdnot Wrex was someone he successfully contacted.”

“Fuck, yes,” Joker muttered.

It didn’t make the xenomorphs less deadly, but having a krogan along would give a much better advantage.

“Kaidan decided to bypass the Nexus and arks, landing with a strike team on Akuze to survey the area and look for survivors.”

“That kind of threat, how is it possible there are any survivors?” Ashley asked.

Liara highlighted some of the remote sights. “Because of the nature of their work. I believe, as well as Kaidan probably did, that if they had enough warning, they could have gone to ground. Fortified a building that could stand against an assault and stockpiled their supplies.... Not to mention the technology the Andromeda Initiative had for their mission is quite advanced.”

“But if it’s so advanced, why can’t they manage to get so much as a signal into orbit, or use one of their satellites to call for help?”

“All good questions, Ashley. We won’t know until we get there. What I can tell you is they landed safely and got some ground covered before their ship in orbit was attacked, cutting them off from contacting the Council and the Alliance.”

Shepard leaned against the table, eyes flying over the data and maps on the holo. “The ship was attacked in orbit?” He raised his hand to tap at the images, moving them and searching for the satellites trajectory. “There. One of the satellites.”

Vega frowned at him. “You think it was sabotage?”

Shaking his head, Shepard leaned back on one leg and crossed his arms. “Maybe not by a person.”

“You mean one of these things?” The huge man gestured incredulously at the holo. “I thought they were animals.”

Mordin shook his head. “No. Wrong to assume so. Race appears to have intelligence above that of any animal in Council space. However, no reason yet to believe cognitive thinking is equal to any race. Have discovered, their carapace and body secretions allow brief survivability in space.”

“Yeah, I had a feeling,” Shepard murmured, knowing when they’d left the LZ on Akuze, nothing had followed them up the loading ramp. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they hopped the satellites to get to the new threat, but we can’t rule out some kind of sabotage. My bullshit meter is ticking. Got anymore for us, Mordin?”

The salarian bowed his head as he collected his thoughts, eyes narrowing. “Very dangerous. Far more problematic than the krogan or rachni, spawn faster than pyjak. Muscles and bone yes, but also built for hydraulic speed.”

“Hydraulic speed?” Vega wondered.

“Think of the last time you killed a spider, Lieutenant, how fast you had to move to kill it before it could scuttle away. Now imagine if it was the size of a turian, or a salarian. Larger, perhaps.” Horror quickly spread across the faces of the humans present as Chakwas laid out the comparison for them. Needless to say, their reaction unsettled the other races sufficiently.

“You need me to stay on the Normandy, right Commander?” Joker intoned. “I left my spider stomping boots on base.”

“Don’t worry, Joker. I want the Normandy as far away from this as possible. We need to stay in consistent contact with Anderson and the Council and I don’t want the ship compromised. Cortez will fly everyone where they need to go.” Vega straightened and crossed his arms, leaning just a little bit closer to the pilot.

Shepard and Ashley raised eyebrows at each other as Mordin continued.

“Tail prehensile, used efficiently in hunting. Must beware the spear headed end. The carapace dense, armored, not easily pierced. Shouldn’t want to. Blood is composed of chemical similar to hydrochloric acid, will burn through almost anything on contact. Do not get on you. Though, have devised something to coat armor, will defend against the worst of it. Too much, will eat through coating. Shepard.” Mordin took a breath. “Creature was engineered. A biological weapon. No data to support Reapers or even Protheans were involved. Perhaps from another galaxy. DNA retains ability to evolve further, constantly.” 

Liara nodded. “It’s possible. Before Akuze went dark the first time, they’d sent requests for Prothean experts and archaeologists for something they’d found in one of the mines. It’s entirely possible it was a ship of some sort, maybe even something else that was dormant?”

Holding up a hand, Shepard shook his head. “Our priority is the missing Spectres and colonists. We find them, rescue who we can and then do what we can to neutralize the threat. For good.”

“Weyland will likely retaliate,” Mordin stated. “Shepard, should-”

“I know what you’re going to ask, Mordin, and the answer is a resounding No. Even if there was some way to get one of those things without sacrificing the mission, there’s too many variables to account for.”

“Would be best, however, should the species arise from elsewhere, to better understand it’s biology. Though, understand your concerns. Weyland not only one in market for biochemical weapons.”

“I promise you if there is a way, miraculously, I’ll consider it.”

Never had any of them seen a salarian give side eye before. It was a day of many firsts.

“You should know, Shepard. They are aware of the situation and are trying to mobilize stations to contain and preserve the threat for their own gain. I doubt they’ll be interested in aiding us.” Liara added on transmissions to the holo, all stamped with the Weyland Corp logo, a large W with bars to either side like wings.

“Mordin,” Garrus interrupted. “How do they navigate? I didn’t see any eyes.”

All eyes turned to the salarian. “Pheromones one possible way. Might have infrared.” Mordin brought up the images he’d been studying of the creature. “Also possible to have eyes behind membrane on it’s skull. Still very humanoid.”

“Ok. EDI update Commander Ripley on Weyland. Send all of Mordin’s notes to her medics so they’ll have an idea of what injuries to expect. Anderson wants hourly updates, send them. Even if we don’t have anything new to share.”

“Done.”

“Great. Moving on.” Shepard turned to Vega and Cortez. “Now, let’s talk about firepower.”

~*N7*~

In the time it took to reach Akuze, Mordin had plotted with Ashley and Cortez to retrofit some of the heat sinks to discharge large bursts of electricity and others with an acid similar to the xenomorph’s blood. The teams were given nitrogen grenades, flame throwers and even electric nets.

Ashley was going with Liara and a marine detail of ten to the Nexus to search for survivors and information. Hopefully by contacting this SAM AI, they could get remote access to the colony and see if the weapons on the station were operational.

They were already in the Kodiak when they left the relay, time of the essence. Cortez made a quick dart for the Nexus, wary of the satellites and nearby debris. Shepard had insisted on the pilot wearing coated armor, despite orders to stay with the shuttle and then insisted on using Mordin’s formula on the Kodiak as well, never minding the limited quantities they had.

“Wow,” Ashley breathed. “That’s something else. You seeing this, Commander?”

“Hard to miss it, chief,” the com piped.

“Indeed,” Liara agreed. “This was going to be our galaxy’s last chance of surviving elsewhere if we weren’t able to stop Harbinger from waking the Reapers. I still haven’t been able to find information on the one they call The Benefactor, the one behind the entire project, but there has never been anything done like this before. Not on this scale.”

“That’s easily a third of the size of the Citadel! Maybe more. How did no one know about this?”

Liara looked at the large space station that would connect to the arks once in place in Andromeda. “It was important that no one knew, which is why they chose Akuze. They couldn’t risk sabotage or gaining the attention of the wrong people. Or the Reapers if they didn’t manage to leave on time. Glyph,” the drone moved closer from where it rested by the scanning equipment. “See what you can find on your scanners.”

The upgraded information drone blipped and whirled. “The Nexus is still running on reserved power.” Highlighted sections popped up on the viewscreen. “These are the areas still running power. There also appears to be a signal located on the port side.”

“What kind of signal?” Shepard asked.

The viewscreen zoomed in on a blinking track light, with a rhythm. “Morse code.” A pause. “It says ‘Rescue D42’.”

“Is there any chance this could be a trap, Shepard?”

“Doubtful xenomorphs had time enough to evolve that far,” Mordin answered and no one could be sure if he was joking or not.

“What about a Weyland mole, Liara?” Ashley asked.

Sighing, Liara pulled up highlighted transmissions. “It’s one consideration I had, but have so far found no proof of. What do you think, Shepard?”

Before he could reply, Gylph was speaking again. “The code continues on by saying ‘Amoeba’.”

Silence. Then a growl the squadmates recognized as Shepard trying to keep his cool. Instantly, Ashley had a bad feeling. “Does that mean what I think it means, skip?”

“My goddamn sister is on that station.” A gusty sigh. “Take her in, Cortez. Drop them off and leave the immediate area, but don’t return until Williams or I give the signal. Glyph, keep an eye out for any movement. These things have a way of getting past advanced detection.”

“Got it,” Cortez confirmed.

The entire ride was tense, but as they entered the docking bay and jumped off, they could see the tracking lights had been rerouted to give a show like something on the Silversun Strip. Liara set up some of her scanning drones for the exterior and then they headed in. As soon as the airlock depressurized behind them, another door slid open to reveal one Jane Shepard.

“Hey guys, come to join the party?” She stood abreast with former Cerberus agent Miranda Lawson, both in full combat gear worse for the wear, a shotgun over her shoulder.

“I swear to god, Jane. What the hell are you doing here?”

The Spectre’s green eyes narrowed in on Liara’s open com. “John Boy, that you?”

“You gave yourself away with the code, Jane.”

“Did you by any chance leave my boyfriend out of this?”

Garrus trilled softly over the com from where he leaned over John’s shoulder in the cockpit of the Normandy. “And let you two have all the fun? Never. Besides, don’t think I’m not completely aware you purposely left me behind to get ahead in our little bet.”

“Aw, Gar bear, would I do that? It’s not like I’m the one losing.”

“Last I checked, Tali was ahead of bo-“

Before the banter could continue over the com, John coughed loudly, possibly adding a gag for good sibling measure. “Tell me the sitrep, Janie.”

Sighing dramatically, she gestured for Ashley’s team to follow her and guided them through hallways until they came to an observation lounge. “I was meeting with Nihlus when he heard about Saren and Akuze. Of course I was going to involve myself. I contacted Miranda to see if Cerberus had any files, which of course they did. They didn’t know as much as the Alliance, but they knew about Weyland and a new alien species that was hostile. I got Kasumi digging up any information we may have missed and hired Massani as an extra gun before going after Saren.”

“Zaeed’s there?”

Grimly, Jane gestured to the bar area, which was currently set up as a triage. “Bastard got hurt really bad on our last run. Nihlus was implanted with one of those spider things, but we got him into one of the cryotubes to buy him some time. So, here’s the situation. We haven’t seen Saren with our own eyes, but SAM showed us video of his corpse. Looks like he killed the thing as it popped out of his chest.” 

She picked up a datapad and sent it’s information through to them. “SAM is an advanced AI like nothing I’ve seen before. It looks like they tailored him to interact directly with everyone on this mission, more so with the Pathfinders. The people were implanted with a chip that act almost like EDI’s body. He detected the creatures early enough to dock the salarian ark to evacuate most of the remaining people off of the Nexus, encouraging them to get in the cryotubes in case of being overrun and then sent it to the other side of Akuze. The cryotubes are nearly impossible to get into forcefully and double as escape pods.”

“The damage to the station has us on emergency power; they’re barely halfway past construction,” Miranda added. “We first counted at least a dozen or more of those things and had SAM monitoring them until they somehow traced him back to his data core and damaged it enough to send it offline again. Him I mean. We may just have to blow the whole thing or send it into the sun if we can’t hunt them all down. We‘ve confirmed at least three current hostiles.”

Liara nodded along and gestured for the marines to set down her equipment. “I brought scanning drones to map the entire station and your brother wants as much information as possible.”

“All right, Cortez, head back with Zaeed. Chakwas will fix him up. We’ll start heading down to meet you. Jane, have you heard anything from the surface?” Shepard asked.

“No, we saw an Alliance ship arrive to investigate. They sent down a shuttle, but before we could transfer enough power to hail them, a satellite crashed and the craft exploded. I don’t think it was one of the critters. Miranda noticed some odd signals that may have been code, I think there’s another team up here, probably propagated the whole thing.”

“Jane,” Shepard interjected. “Kaidan’s down there.”

The redhead’s eyes widened as she looked at Ashley for confirmation.

“It’s possible he has Wrex and a strike team with him. Can you give us any information on the trajectory of the shuttle?”

“Fuck.” Jane hustled over to the coffee table covered in datapads. “Ok. Miri!”

“You left it over here, Jane.” Miranda grabbed a datapad off of the bar and handed it to Liara. “With the power running on reserves, we’ve been storing what data we find on these. We saw the shuttle land safely at one of the remote testing sites before we lost SAM. Smart, since I’m sure these things would have gone after the largest population.” 

“Thanks, Miri. Jane, we’ve got our landing team ready to go, but I’m sending you the patrol’s com codes in case you need them. Cortez will only get close enough to drop us off and will stay in orbit until he hears from us, doubling as a relay in case we have troubles with communications. Anderson is dealing with fallout from the brass, but he’s waiting on hourly updates. I’m sure he’ll be overjoyed to know you’re there, Jane.”

“Yeah. Real pleased.”

“Shut up. We’ll do our best to stay in contact with updates when we have a signal.”

“Stay safe. I mean it. And keep my boyfriend in one piece! He owes me a new Black Widow mod.”

Shepard snorted over the com. “Sure. As safe as a krogan going through puberty.”

The others were already on their way down to the hangar bay, Shepard turning to follow, when Joker spun around in his chair. “Commander.” He looked back. “Just, it’s stupid, but-“

Suddenly he was reminded of the fact that only two people ever called their wise-cracking pilot ‘Jeff’.

Joker met his gaze. “Bring him back? Like, I know you already plan to and you’re basically in love with the guy, but I just broke him in the way I like him and-“

And Kaidan was his closest friend aside from EDI. Horizon had fucked up a lot of relationships.

“Joker.”

“Yeah?”

“Aye, aye.”


	3. Chapter 3

John had been young enough when his boots first hit Akuze that the shine of new worlds hadn’t worn off on him yet. Still, even the seasoned troops in Gorman’s squad had been mesmerized by the way the mountains sparkled and gleamed under the setting sun. The planet was mostly red rock and purple desert with a few oases, the soil rich for mining and just stable enough for the terraforming equipment to do its work.

When the night had come, carrying everything into dark blue shadow, the settlement itself was calm with barely a branch twitching, but outside where the creatures dragged them was turbulent from the machines forcing life into the air. It’d been hard to breathe for those who lost their helmets, not that they’d lived long after.

As the Kodiak scouted for a drop site, John couldn’t recognize the planet except for the red mountains and the dark violet soil peeking out in the farmed land. Prefabs and domed labs formed small cities, ready to be disassembled and reassembled on the arks or station when the time came. Vegetation had taken proper hold and given everything new life.

“Is that…I’m not having a fevered dream right now, am I? Did we actually get shot down on the way here?” Garrus’ face was pressed against the viewport.

“Daaaaaamn,” Vega whistled.

“If you are referring to the small krogan army amassing outside what appears to be the AI’s perimeter, then no, you are not dreaming,” EDI tilted her head and appeared to be using the shuttle’s cameras to see.

John looked down on the sight, awestruck as they were spotted and a cheer went up amongst the soldiers that weren’t engaged with about six xenomorphs. Based on his experience he’d hazard a guess the creatures were testing for weaknesses against the makeshift wall. From here all you could see were darts of black sprinting from dark places from the shadows of the afternoon sun to bounce against walls, but the krogan seemed to be holding their own.

It was a good sign. John tapped at his Omni Tool and Ride of the Valkyries started playing in the shuttle and across the coms. A cheer started up amongst the humans, but before EDI could explain the reference to Garrus, Jane had her two cents.

“What the FUCK, Amoeba?”

“Jane, you’re never going to believe this.”

“Look, commander, there!” Vega was pointing at a shuttle close to the white and pale blue painted structure behind the krogan. It was worse for the wear, but it was in one piece. The designation signified it belonging to the Nostromo.

“Thank fuck. EDI, can you relay camera feed to Jane and the Normandy?”

“Already done, Shepard.”

“Damn, it’s the wet dream I never knew I wanted,” breathed Jane. 

One grizzled and ancient looking krogan was gesturing to them and the roof of the facility, which was opening to reveal a small landing pad, a strike team of mixed races lining it with weapons at the ready and eyes scanning everywhere for enemies.

“Looks like the welcome wagon. All right, Cortez, take us in. Soon as we land, take her up. Vega, I want you staying with the shuttle. I’m taking no chances. Until we figure out what’s blocking communications, you’re our buoy. Garrus, EDI, on me.”

“Aye, aye.”

As soon as their boots hit the ground, a case of Liara’s drones held between EDI and Garrus, the LZ starting sinking back into the building. With the roof snapping shut above them and no incidents, he turned to their greeters. “Commander John Shepard of the Normandy SR-2.”

A tall white turian with teal clan tattoos nodded to him. “Tiran Kandros, head of APEX. This is my team and THAT,” he nodded to a human woman charging towards them from a hallway, “is Sloane Kelly. Head of security.”

“Commander Shepard. We were told you might be on your way.” She was a statuesque woman with a scarred face and heterochromic eyes that were bright against her dark skin. Her armor had pitting on it, like she’d been fighting close with the creatures, but she had no other blood on her.

“By Spectre Alenko?” He hoped.

“Yes. You bring the Calvary like he said you would?”

“Depends. You in charge?”

Sloane‘s mouth tightened. “Not quite. Follow me. I’ll take you to Pathfinder HQ.”

“The ones heading the teams for exploration? They’re in charge?”

“It’s complicated, Shepard. While we do have people in charge of the Andromeda Initiative, heads of various departments, the Pathfinders are the ones with power.”

“I believe it’s due to their AI, SAM, being directly linked to their bodies via an implant.” EDI tilted her head at Kelly’s look of alarm. “We were debriefed on your mission. We have only so far been told the basics. How many are there?”

Scowling, Kelly resumed her quick trod into a large open room lined with towers of crates and people busy with equipment, leading them to a branched off room that looked like their destination. “Total? Or left? It’s a good thing we only just started collecting our people otherwise the casualties would have been far higher. The one running this crazy operation, Jien Garson, is dead and Matriarch Nuara isn’t here to take her place.”

As they approached a large makeshift table and a holoprojector on the second floor, the huddling motley crew straightened up. A salarian started forward to greet them as they put down the crate, “Greetings. It is good news that the infamous Commander-“

A female krogan grunted and cut him off. “Can it, Tann. We don’t have time for your brown nosing. Shepard. This is Jarun Tann, temporary replacement for Garson.” She gestured to the humans. “Foster Addison, director colonial affairs. Captain Dunn, commander of ark Hyperion and in charge of our pilots. I am Nakmor Kesh, engineering and head of Nexus maintenance. But they’re who you want to talk to.”

The turians she referred to stepped down from where they’d been talking to each other by a circle of inactive holoprojectors to clasp forearms with him, one with a darker brown skin and the other paler, both with similar facial tattoos. “Pathfinder Macen Barro, of the ark Natanus. This is Avitus Rix, my second in command. We’re glad to see you.”

“This is Garrus Vakarian and EDI.”

Garrus was staring openly at Rix, mandibles twitching, until a quarian walked down the stairs from a higher office area to elbow him sharply in the side. “Pardon him, he’s always been a big fan of the infamous Spectre Rix.”

“TALI?”

The quarian trilled a small laugh, gently stroking the side of Garrus’ face before smacking him on the ass. Scandalized, the turian grabbed her by the shoulders. “Does Jane know you’re here?!”

The petite figure straightened up at the mention of their lover and turned to Shepard. “Jane’s here?”

“She was investigating Saren’s disappearance with Nihlus on the Nexus. She has Ashley, Miranda and Liara with her. They’re trying to get SAM online to root out the xenomorphs on the station and get communications up.”

“She’s also got Burke and the others to deal with,” Rix growled.

Shepard turned back to the turians. “Saboteurs?”

Barro nodded his head and led them over to the projector. “We were working on the end stages of construction when we discovered people were missing and with no idea about Akuze’s actual history,” the glare the turian sent Shepard was stabbing, “we went investigating. More people went missing. We knew they were dead, just not how. The information we had was sent up the ladder to Weyland and the Benefactor before communications went dead. Turns out there was a small team working together to keep us in the dark and as potential hosts.”

Sloane leaned against the table, arms crossed. “We hunted them down, but they made it off planet. Their trajectory was for the Nexus, might want to warn Spectres Shepard and Kryik if you have a buoy up.”

“Jane?” Shepard barked into the com.

“Yeah, yeah, kid. EDI warned us as soon as she heard.” Heads swung to look at the synthetic standing next to Garrus in curiosity as his twin spoke. “We’ve got a bead on them. Burke and Brooks. Some paper pusher and a Cerberus dog. Looks like this is getting more and more attention. We got to shut this down ASAP.”

“There were more,” Barro informed her. “We got Spender-“

Rix flared his mandibles and bared his teeth in a vicious grin. “More like the beasts did.”

“-but there was another one. Another human. Male. The one that destroyed our access to SAM.” An image popped up on the holo of a man dressed in dark armor.

Swearing erupted over the com before Miranda said a name. “Kai Leng. Your sister’s...replacement. Former marine, I don't know anything other than him becoming The Illusive Man’s right hand and that he’s dangerous, be careful.”

“Looks like SAM only confirmed two humans getting off of the shuttle before he was shut down. He’s probably still down there with you, but we’ll keep an eye out,” Jane added.

“Miranda and I also found enough on Weyland to shut them down completely, John,” Liara spoke over the com. “They may have only recently teamed up with Cerberus, but I’ve got every dark little secret. The Council and Alliance are going to have a field day.”

“Look, Jane...uh,” Garrus stuttered as he stared at the quarian studying something on her Omni Tool. “Tali is here.”

There was a brief silence. “The FUCK, Alenko? Tali-“

The quarian straightened up, pale eyes narrowing from behind her faceplate at the com unit on Shepard’s Omni Tool. “Jane Shepard, I do not think you want to finish that sentence. As long as I’m needed, I’m staying.”

Sibling glee rose in Shepard at his sister’s defeated bleat of, “Tali! I-”

“I will be careful and we will have a certain conversation when I see you again.” The quarian glared at her turian boyfriend. “All of us. Keep us informed.” And with that, she went back up the stairs.

Throats were awkwardly cleared despite the severity of the situation as they got back to it.

“Ok. So, we’ll keep an eye out for him.”

“We’ve got a plan and thank spirits you’re here, because maybe it will work,” Barro spoke.

“Ok, first things first.” The anxiety had been building in Shepard. “Where’s Spectre Alenko?”

“Ah, yes.”

~~~

Not only had Wrex and Tali been with Kaidan, but also Grunt and Thane. The krogan had helped the Nakmor clan organize their people against the onslaught of the aliens’ assault with the information they brought with them while Tali helped the scientists and engineers devise a way to administer something to wipe the aliens out using the old terraforming equipment.

“It’s nearly impossible to get past the natural defense of their skin, so we made an aerosol to disperse a toxin to kill them from the inside,” Tali pulled up the schematics on the holo. 

“Despite everything, we’re still hopeful we can see this project through, even if it takes a few more years longer,” Barro said. “Our priority is killing these things and keeping our people safe, though.”

As much as Shepard wanted to try destroying everything from a distance and avoid taking chances, it made sense. The Reapers may have been left dormant, but they weren’t dealt with. They could still wake.

“They’re setting up to dispense the toxin remotely after we leave. Something nasty that will do its job, but has a killing chain so it dies off within a few weeks. We have shuttles here, but not enough for all of us,” Sloane pulled up the current list of survivors and pilots. “The more trips we take, the more opportunities arise for something to go wrong. Pathfinder Ryder went with a team to retrieve a ship with enough space for the rest of us.”

“Alec Ryder?” Shepard had read that a former N7 was the human pathfinder.

“Alec died defending his kids when the first wave hit the main facility. SAM transferred over to his son, Scott, and made him Pathfinder. Pathfinder Raeka was on the ark that SAM alerted and sent away on lockdown. Hopefully, they’re all ok. Pathfinders Ishara and Qetsi’Olam are out with small teams to make sure there’s nowhere to hide for these things, that the toxin is distributed as planned. Vents and doors locked open, setting charges to where they’re dug in. They’ve already reported back success with minimal loss and are on their way in.”

“Kaidan went with Wrex and Thane to find the queen’s lair,” Tali laid a tentative hand on Shepard’s arm.

Nerves made his whole body buzz. “The queen?”

One of the scientists, a salarian named Professor Herik, nodded. “We believe they are eusocial. We’ve only seen her soldiers, never the one laying the eggs. Alenko believed she might be out in the remains of a ship we originally thought might be prothean. They went with Ryder and then split off to investigate the site the archaeologists had sectioned off. The last we heard was that they’d made it to the Tempest and were getting the ship ready. We haven’t heard anything since.”

“It’s only been an hour or so, but-“ Sloane shrugged. “Five minutes with one of these things makes me wish I was back at the Skyllian Blitz instead.”

“Ok, time for a field trip. Where’s Grunt now?”

“Here, Shepard!” The familiar sight of the young krogan eagerly stomping over to him from the doors eased the breath in his heavy lungs.

“About time you showed up! Alenko said you’d be fashionably late, but damn, you always have to take it to the extreme. Where are we off to?” Fresh blood was on his armor, the smell of discharged weapons lingering on him as he settled in with the group. “Heh heh heh. Let’s get this party started.”

“How long until everything is ready?” Shepard asked everyone.

“Honestly?” Kesh pointed out the calculations on the holo. “We’ll be ready before you even get there.”

Garrus stayed with Tali to help with evacuation and tuning the final calibrations for the terraformers. Grunt took his place gleefully and watched EDI’s six as she carried the drone crate by herself, walking the same route Ryder and Kaidan’s teams did through long hallways of white and steel. There were a couple checkpoints Kandros and Sloane had set up that they passed, and they started rolling out the drones to map the building and look for enemies.

Senses on high alert, it was strangely bright and exposed as they hustled. Nowhere to hide, but no creatures. The last set of doors spat them out into a small ready room where one last check point was hidden away, the APEX strike team looking up as they entered.

Shepard nodded to them and raised Kandros. “We’ve reached the last checkpoint. We’ll seal the doors and you can send your people back to reinforce the others. All goes well, we’ll just ride back on the Tempest.”

“And if it doesn’t?” 

“Then we’re dead and you can try Plan B.” 

“Shepard. This was Plan D.”

“These things have a way of sneaking in. Sloane‘s right about a closing window. Plan D fails, you take off with who you can and Commander Williams’ll bring in the Alliance’s reserves to scout with the drones we leave.”

A long sigh over the com as the turian realized he was right and he pulled his people back. 

Sealing the door was easy and then they were outside in a half constructed building. The skeleton of it reached at least three floors, the ceiling exposed to the evening sun. They had a few hours of light left and then the beasts would have an advantage over their limited sight.

EDI rolled out more drones as they went, a steady push to the hangar where the Andromeda Initiative had been readying the finished scout ship for its long journey to another galaxy. There were signs of fighting, a few bodies twisted on the ground from where they tried to flee their attackers. One xenomorph lay dead near the entrance to the makeshift airfield, riddled with bullets and it’s own yellow-green blood. A man was propped up against some crates nearby, gun still in hand and his armor melted into his body from the creature’s blood.

“Kirkland, Dusty.” EDI scanned his body and then the others. “Greer, Lucas. Hayes, Amara.”

“Send the victims’ names to Addison and Barro. If they get a chance to bury their dead, it won’t be for a long time.”

She nodded and went back to her task. As they reached the field outside she released a few more drones, the small holo balls spinning and whirring as their sensors scanned every surface before flying off in opposite directions. Dropping the crate she pulled out the last two with one hand and armed herself with a pistol as she took point at Shepard’s gesture.

Crossing the open field was terrifying. Every noise their boots made echoed in his ears and his suit fought against the cold sweat breaking across his skin. While he should be grateful they hadn’t run across anything alive yet, it just made him feel all the more vulnerable not knowing where the enemy was.

“We’ve got movement,” EDI stated calmly, not breaking her stride as they neared the hangar.

Heart jumping, Shepard kept steady, trusting her. “Where?”

Red dots started popping up on their HUDs, but they were far enough away that his spiked adrenaline calmed a bit. “Shit, what are they doing?”

“Hmm. Looks like they’re amassing for an assault,” Grunt guessed.

“But why there?” The gathering red dots on the map were in proximity to the AI survivors, but nowhere near the entrances and weak zones he was aware of. “What do they have over there, EDI?”

“A temporary sewer they have set up for their stay. I alerted Kelly and Kandros. It seems they have automated defenses set up down there to alert them, but it’s not a very defensible position. When the xenomorphs attack, it’ll only be a matter of time before they get through.”

“The ones at the gate are a distraction.” Fuck, he should have seen it coming.

“A very fun distraction,” Grunt grinned.

“Is that where you’ve been?”

“For a little while. Tali also needed help tracking down some equipment.”

The conversation ended abruptly as they reached the hangars, more dead belonging to both sides scattered amongst the dark soil in the shadows cast between the large connected hangars and the red rock cliffs. Now there were a few examples side by side, Shepard could see the ‘xenomorphs’ weren’t as cookie cutter as he’d thought. There were variations he hadn’t seen before: in skin tone, number of fingers and toes, the way the skeletal carapace shaped and stretched.

“These aren’t the ones from last time. Some are different.”

EDI tilted her head as she scanned and sent the information up, using the shuttle to establish a strong connection to the Normandy. “Dr. Solus confirms that due to their evolutionary nature, they most likely take on the traits of their hosts.”

Grunt shifted, keeping alert as they studied the remains. “Sounds like husks to me. Is it possible these things were made by the Reapers?”

“We haven’t found any evidence to support that. Yet. Let’s move on.” Shepard nodded to the hangar. “Think it’s safe to knock?”

“There’s no movement outside, but inside-“ the synthetic started.

One of the bulkhead doors was sliding open, blood still damp on the metal.

“EDI?” He and Grunt aimed their weapons.

“Friendlies, Shepard.”

Two humans and a turian greeted them, their own weapons drawn. 

“Hey there,” the female turian greeted before opening fire. The red dot popped up on their HUDs for only a second as the waiting beast made its move, only to die in a rain of fire. Shepard’s team spun around, EDI easily flipping away while Grunt roared and shot at it. He hit the ground and rolled away to avoid the blood as it hissed on rock and soil, coming up to fire on the other two red dots blinking into existence.

“Shit!” The human male cursed, frantically reloading. “There’s more coming!”

The woman was a biotic, suspending one beast at a time for an easier kill, the tails swinging around looking for targets that were just out of their reach. “Damn. They must have been waiting for us to open the doors!”

Shepard launched a grenade as three more joined, the explosion tearing off limbs on two of them and killing the third. Smoke rose from his armor where blood hit him, but Mordin’s work did it’s job and prevented it from going further than the paint job. The remaining two screeched loudly and clawed toward them on the ground. “EDI! How many more of these things?”

“Two more, coming east over the cliff. There’s some in the distance I can just barely detect with the drones, but they aren’t mov-“ EDI was disrupted as a swinging tail speared into her torso, hooking inside and as it flailed under their weapons, flung her against a rock wall.

“EDI! Fuck.” Shepard ran over, eyes on the cliff as two silhouettes crested it.

“I am fine, Shepard. This is merely a mobile platform-“

He didn’t care, she was an asset they needed and more importantly, a friend. Simply yanking on the tail of the dead creature freed her, getting her up was more difficult. She was heavy, no heavier than a tall marine in full combat armor and kitted out, but the damage caused her legs to malfunction. As they made for the doors, she limped heavily, one ankle dragging in the dirt. Unlike an organic, she had never lost her cool and still held both the drones and her pistol, which was aimed over his shoulder on the enemies paused at the cliff’s edge as they went.

The beasts perched like gargoyles, long strings of drool gleaming in the sunlight as they hissed, antsy and fidgeting.

“We can reinforce the doors inside!” The woman was shouting, encouraging everyone to follow her in. “We don’t know when more will show up!”

A bad feeling started crawling up his spine as they made for the doors, but before he could find the source of it, Shepard suddenly found himself shoved and flying through the doorway, hitting the floor of the hangar hard and sliding. The doors were already closing as he looked up to see that one of the beasts had attacked the other, sending a rain of blood that was eating through EDI’s body where it had been damaged and exposed.

“The drones!” EDI shouted and the biotic snapped them up and pulled them inside just as the doors closed and the last creature crashed into them, screeching madly.

As they hustled to get the door braced, Shepard raised her on the com, heart sick. “EDI?”

“-here, Shepard.”

The thumping stopped from the other side and he could see in his mind’s eye the thing turning to hunch over her body.

“They seem to be-“ the thing’s roar cut her off and then a loud clanking as it started hitting her. “-set the drone—-queen-“ Silence.

Sighing deeply and trying to remember that EDI was actually safe on the Normandy, Shepard turned to the others. “There goes our signal booster. I still have a shuttle in the sky to keep us linked to my ship and the Nexus.” At the crew’s startled look, he added, “My sister, Spectre Shepard, is up there handling things with her own team. Right now, I have to talk to Ryder. Barro and the others filled me in. Where is he?”

The biotic nodded at them. “Cora Harper, second to the Pathfinder. This is Liam Kosta and Vetra Nyx. Scott went ahead to check in with Spectre Alenko.”

“More like he went to go check on his sister, Sara,” Vetra added. “You’ve got great timing, Shepard. We were about to mount our own rescue.”

They led him across the hangar, paying no mind to the sounds of the alien resuming its efforts against the outside. The reason for their nonchalance became clear as they entered another hangar and sealed the door behind them. Rinse, repeat, until they were in one of the larger hangars a fair distance away. 

The Tempest was a beautiful ship, half the size of the SR-2 Normandy and much sleeker in appearance. It would easily hold the remaining survivors, though it might be snug. However…

“No weapons I take it?”

The turian gave a grim look as Harper led them over to the lowering ramp of the ship. “She’s a surveyor, meant for exploring and studying new worlds. Real science stuff. She can be pretty stealthy, but yeah, no guns. We’ll have to rely on APEX for cover and be quick.”

“Ok, and what happened with Alenko and Sara?”

“Sara used to go to the dig site a lot, so she guided Alenko’s team,” Cora took over, showing her opinion with the curl of her lip. “An hour later, Scott said his ‘twin sense’ was tingling and he had to go check on them. That was an hour and a half ago. Gil and Kallo managed to get the ship ready despite their injuries and we found a Nomad in the same bay as the motorcycle Ryder took.”

“How far away is the dig site?”

“About twenty klicks northeast.”

Walking up the ramp, the all-terrain rover came into view. Like the Tempest, the Nomad didn’t have a canon or any weapons mounted on it, but it’s bodywork and design put the old Mako to shame.

Shepard distantly wondered if there was a way to get one of those for the Normandy, get Garrus to install a thanix on it.

“Well, I really wasn’t expecting you to come back with company, Nyx. Definitely not Commander Shepard.” The mechanic in red coveralls managed to limp over on his splinted leg for a handshake. “Gil Brodie. The overbearing bird over there is my best friend, Jill.” The blond sitting perched on a workbench with an assault rifle nodded at him and went back to watching the ramp. “You going after Scott and the others?”

“That’s the plan. Harper said you can get the Tempest airborne?”

“Yes, sir. Kallo and Vidal are just waiting for the green light.”

“And the Nomad?”

“Had to peel her out of her packaging and warm her up, but she’s good to go. Nothing fancy, just the standard features, but hopefully it’s all we need.”

“Ok.” Shepard turned to Harper. “Let’s get airborne.”

“Whoa.” Gil’s eyes widened. “Wait, what about Scott and the others?!”

Grunt grinned with too much teeth and shouldered his shotgun. “This is going to be great.”

The crew were reluctant until they heard the whole plan and then their pilots had them up and flying over the dig site in no time at all.

“You know, Shepard, Kallo can take it from here if you want more company,” Vidal was saying on the ship’s com as they hovered above the field leading into the huge cavern. “I’m pretty handy with a gun.”

“I appreciate the offer, but it'd be better to have the more experienced pilot stay with the ship. Even with Kallo’s qualifications-“

“I helped BUILD this ship!” The salarian interjected indignantly.

“-it’s better to be safe than sorry. We ready? Let’s go.”

“I’m kind of jealous. Not going to lie,” Gil was murmuring to himself as he lowered the ramp.

The Tempest was not designed for vehicle combat drops. As soon as the ramp started lowering, Shepard gave the Nomad some gas to control it as it started to slide and fall forward, Grunt hooting in the back. And unlike the Mako, the vehicle was not designed to fall from great heights, so they’d had to hover close enough to prevent damage to the frame and axles. 

Still, it was a fun drop.

“All right, entering the cavern. Get clear, Tempest. We’ll stay in touch.”

“Aye, aye,” Harper replied and the ship flew up and out of sight.

“Looks like someone beat us here,” the young krogan looked over Shepard’s shoulder at the small ship nestled tight to the inside where it was wide, right near the entrance. The Andromeda Initiative had been mining for materials and found the ancient ship deep down one of the naturals shafts of the cavern. Some equipment was still scattered about from the people who started investigating it, but it was otherwise unremarkable. The cycle Pathfinder Ryder had used was propped up near the mouth of the cave.

There were no designations on the ship in front of them, the design seemed human, advanced. “You think it’s that guy? Leng?”

“Unfortunately.” He carefully dropped a drone outside near the entrance and then shut the door, driving forward carefully and keeping a sharp eye on the shadows. “It’s a lot hotter in here. It should be colder, not warmer.”

“Think these things need to generate heat for their spawn?”

“It’s a possibility.” It was easy to climb any obstacle with the six wheel drive so he drove up a steep incline near the ship until it was overlooking it. Sending a checkpoint and update to the others, he grabbed the last drone and left the relative safety of the Nomad. “Ok, let’s send this guy down the shaft and see what’s going on in the ship before we continue.”

The entrance to the mine could have probably fit the Nomad, but he didn’t know for how far and didn’t want to risk their backup transportation. Shepard carefully threw the drone inside and turned to the ship. The ramp was sealed tight and on closer inspection with his sniper scope, he could see signs of recent battle. Scoring from heat sinks, what looked like claw marks and some pitting from the creatures blood. Drag marks of something heavy marked the sand between the closed ramp and the mine entrance.

“Why do I get the feeling this asshole is bringing trophies back to his boss?” Shepard asked.

“Because Cerberus is stupid enough to try.”

“Ok, we’ll go in through the bridge. Maybe we’ll avoid what he was bringing back.”

“Heh. And maybe it killed him already and died from indigestion.”

The access door to the bridge was sealed tight, but between Shepard’s hacking skills and Grunt’s strength, they got it open in no time. Inside, it was quiet, the cockpit clean of any personality and the computers unmanned. Hacking the ship’s systems took longer and as soon as everything started downloading to their Omni Tools, they started scouting out the ship.

The living quarters were barely disturbed, the lockers fully stocked with weapons and alternative armor, the kitchenette’s coffee pot sitting half full and cold. No sign of movement or any enemies, they kept their weapons up as they moved down towards engineering, keeping back to back and quiet.

As they passed the engine core, they came to a room stinking of death and Shepard stopped in horror.

Kai Leng lay dead in large smears of red on the floor, hand still clutching at the ninjato that appeared to have been turned on him, stabbing through his chest and the chestburster that had probably tried to leave. The alien’s blood had eaten through the metal of the sword, letting it fall slightly to the side, the chemical smell lingering over the blood implied the deck beneath had also fallen victim. The whole ship was probably now compromised.

“Dammit,” Grunt growled at the sight of the other body, stretched out in a pool of his own blue-green blood, one hand reaching towards the bulkhead leading to the bowls of the ship.

Shepard was trying to even out his breathing, switching to his pistol as he knelt down to turn Thane over. The assassin was dead, the wounds from Leng’s sword stealing his life before he could reach his destination. There was no bruising around his neck, nothing peeking from the torn ruin of his black armor.

“I liked that guy.” The krogan paced, continuing to growl and making as if to shoot Leng’s body before Shepard stopped him.

“We still need to clear the rest of the ship.” It was clear the drell was trying to make it for the door, so he gently moved Thane out of the way and focused on the mission. “Looks like he was trying to keep something in, maybe even out.” The lock on the door was difficult and paired with an old deadbolt system, the small window above it revealing nothing but a ready room with extra oxygen tanks and the door beyond to storage.

“You sure about this, Shepard?”

“No, but Thane was trying to do-“

People crashed into the room before him, young and both wearing AI white with pale blue. Both their helmets were gone to reveal faces with a striking resemblance that could only mean it was the Ryder siblings.

“Oh, thank god.” Sara was helping to prop her limping brother up. “Scott, it’s a knight in shining armor, Commander Shepard himself!”

Shepard was staring at the kid as he looked up, more accurately, at the bruises around his neck. “How did you get those injuries?”

Scott seemed confused, probably a concussion, while his sister stared in growing horror. “No! We got it off of him before it could do anything! He’s fine! I SWEAR.”

All Shepard had to do left was slide the deadbolts to free them, but his hands were frozen on the mechanism. Grunt watched him over his shoulder from where he was guarding their six.

“How long ago was it on him? I need to know-“

“I SWEAR, on our mother’s grave! He’s fine, but that thing is coming. PLEASE!”

“I’m sorry,” he said, voice filled with regret. “I can't take that chance.”

“SAM! SAM! Come on, Scotty!” Sara leaned her brother against the wall and was frantically trying to find a way to open the door. Behind her, a familiar screeching roar could be heard, causing her to sob and her brother to finally snap out of it enough to start helping her look for escape. “HELP! HELP US. He won’t let us OUT!”

Shepard’s hands tightened on the lock, desperately tempted to take a chance, but he quickly realized she wasn’t just shouting at them or some random deity. Boots were heard and another figure appeared behind them, his blue armor having seen better days.

The second human Spectre quickly took in the scene, hair a mess and falling across his forehead underneath his helmet, and then met his gaze. “John! It’s ok! Wrex and I got it off him before it could get to his face. He only has tracheal bruising from the tail.”

Still, Shepard hesitated. He couldn’t fight the instinct, despite those familiar brown eyes pleading with him.

“Trust me.”

There was a clunk as the deadbolts started shifting before the words were even out of the other man’s mouth and then the twins were falling onto the floor, slipping in the blood and skating awkwardly to get out of the way. Kaidan was immediately through next. “WREX! Let’s go!”

There was a thundering and then the krogan came charging though.

“SHEPARD!” The krogan bellowed, slamming the door behind him and sliding the deadbolts back in place. “Man, you guys always know where to find a good fight.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Pretty sure that thing is dead, but it’s probably better to just blow the whole damn ship with the nest.”

“The nest? You found it?” 

“Not yet! But we know exactly where it is, thanks to some of this stuff their people left behind. We were going to go set charges once we got Ryder bundled up somewhere.”

One of the twins started protesting, he wasn’t sure which, because Kaidan was taking his hand, pulling him closer and away from the grisly scene at their feet. Despite everything, Shepard managed a smile. “Hey, sunshine.”

The biotic returned the smile, knocking their helmets together affectionately. “Hey, trouble.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Hey sunshine,” Shepard used to greet Kaidan sarcastically in the morning on the Normandy SR-1. 

That fateful morning they spent leave together had been no different as they slowly gathered themselves in the hotel room they’d shared, not knowing it’d be the last they’d see of each other for years.

Shepard had paused in reading his mail, watched the way the artificial sunlight hit his boyfriend’s face as he left the bathroom and all but collapsed in a chair by the window. Boyfriend. Wow. He’d never really had one before. Not one he could trust to get close, or one he could see a future with. And… “I’ve never wanted to kiss someone the way I wanna kiss you.”

The words were cheesy, probably the most romantic bull shit he’d ever uttered to a lover, but they didn’t feel like bull shit. They felt genuine. Vulnerable.

Kaidan had turned from where he’d been sleepily drying his hair with a towel by the desk, peered grumpily at him as he clutched his coffee in his free hand. “That a line you-“ Seeing Shepard’s expression, his face had softened and he’d sat up.

All his past lustful and romantic entanglements, none of them had been a close friend beforehand like his former lieutenant. It was new and amazing how well they’d come together once they’d allowed themselves to start dating. Kaidan had been stubborn about waiting until his reassignment, but it’d been worth the wait.

It’d been long enough since the fight for the Citadel and Saren’s arrest that they could go out in public without being too easily recognized, but there was some unspoken agreement about keeping what time they could for themselves.

“And how’s that?”

Shepard had knelt before him, hands on Kaidan’s bare knees, before kissing him softly.

“Always.” Kiss. “Often.” Kiss. “Never want to stop.”

Kaidan had shoved the coffee he’d been desperate for aside, pulled on his former Commander until he was straddling his lap, their mouths melting eagerly against each other.

They never did leave that hotel room that day, ordered in meals and watched the terrible Blasto movies Shepard was so fond of.

The next few months they’d exchanged numerous messages to stay in touch, as well as vid calls when they could. They’d just finished one such call when the Normandy was attacked over Alchera, Shepard and his visiting sister flung from his ship as the Collectors attacked. His last thoughts had been of how desperate he’d been to get to Jane even as he lost oxygen through his ruptured helmet...and the first time his lieutenant had looked at him with a smirk and called him ‘trouble’.

~N7~

  
“How are you holding up?”

Shepard’s eyes couldn’t help but cut over to Thane’s body, the sound of EDI’s mobile body being destroyed echoing in his ears and his memory snagging on a dark night many years ago. Wrex was talking shit with the kids and an amused Grunt was keeping watch. “I’ll be fine.” He took a meditative breath like Samara had showed him to help combat his PTSD. Back on the suicide mission, it’d been for different reasons. “Might need a long vacation after this.”

“Your time in lock up not restful enough?” 

They’d exchanged a few emails before Shepard had turned himself in, where they’d both apologized and Kaidan admitted to trying to move on, but hadn’t been ready to let go, that he’d probably never be. Shepard hadn’t wanted to give any empty promises to the biotic with such an uncertain future looming ahead, but the other man had said he was willing to wait, which had been the only thing besides Vega’s friendship and the damn treadmill that kept his spirits lifted in lockdown.

Snorting, he looked through their helmets at Kaidan again, eyes closing briefly as he wished there was nothing between them. “You know me.”

“Explosions and mayhem.”

“Yeah, yeah. Dont judge. My incarceration is your dream vacation.” 

“Hey!”

“You’re right. Too urban. Needs more trees and animals. Less people. Weirdo.”

“And you.” Shepard’s eyes snapped open, feeling his face warm a bit at the way Kaidan stared at him. “Maybe minus the chaos, but I wouldn’t mind a little adventure.”

“Now who’s being corny?” But he said it with affection.

Kaidan sighed deeply, pulling back as Wrex continued to needle and distract the Ryder twins, his cackle as booming as ever. “You ready for this?” He didn’t ask Shepard to go back with the Pathfinder, he knew and respected him too well. It was the same reason Shepard didn’t ask Kaidan.

“Never.” He took another meditative breath. “Let’s do it.”

“He saved my life,” Kaidan looked over at the drell, eyes dark and hand still in his. Always a marine, he’d used his non-dominate to take Shepard’s, their weapons aimed at the floor and ready. “Leng was going for a killing blow. Then, when we got trapped with Cerberus’ little zoo, he spent his last breaths trying to get to the door.” He looked at Shepard and tilted his head in curiosity, “Did he know about us?”

They’d kept their romance to themselves to savor it while they could, before Shepard’s fame inevitably started interrupting their time together. Even Jane only had her suspicions.

“I never said anything, but we’ve always been surrounded by the best of the best.”

“I didn’t know how to get in contact with half your SR-2 crew. John, he showed up just minutes before we left. Told me about his Kepral’s Sydrome, how he was looking to do more good before he died. It was almost like he was...protective.”

Shepard’s eyebrows raised. “Of you?”

“Both of us. Probably Jane, too.”

Yeah, he’d wondered about the drell‘s respect for his sister turning to something more, but then he’d watched the way she, Garrus and Tali started orbiting each other before finally coming together. The quarian always had the biggest crush on Jane after they’d saved her life and when they’d hunted down Archangel, they’d found that the turian had enough reality checks after their death to remove the stick out of his ass.

The best part had been the way Tali and Garrus bickered like an old married couple before they realized they all cared for each other.

“The Tempest should be able to bring him home,” Shepard said quietly.

Scott looked up, still trying to regain his senses, “Is everyone ok?”

Shepard nodded. “They’re fine, waiting for our com to come pick us up. You should get back while you’re healing and check in with Barro and the others.”

The Pathfinder frowned like he might protest, but seemed to realize he wasn’t fit for the mission and nodded grudgingly. The ship picked the twins and Thane up without a hitch. While they had the boosted signal for their coms, Jane checked in. “Brooks is dead and Burke is about to face the wrath of the Council. SAM isn’t functioning at full capacity, but he’s helping us to remove the block on communications. God, why are bad guys always a mix of genius and dumbass?”

“It does seem universal. Look, Jane-“

“If you’re about to tell me about how you lost EDI’s shiney new body we got her, you’re too late, asshole. She’s been helping us with SAM. Clearly, I can’t give you two nice things anymore.”

That eased the ache in his heart a bit. “I’ve got Kaidan and the Urdnots with me, but-“

“But?”

“Thane’s dead.” There was a moment of silence between them, a familiar one from years of a hard life and many friends and allies lost along the way. “He was here with Kaidan and died from the wounds he took from killing Cerberus’ newest cheerleader. Ryder has him on the Tempest.”

“YOU’RE supposed to be on the Tempest.” Good, Barro had been in contact with her.

“We found the queen’s lair.”

Jane swore. “Is that as foreboding as it sounds?”

“We need to set up all the explosives.” The red dots flickering and blinking from the drone’s explorations were numerous, probably only able to track the things as they moved. When he ran a program on his Omni Tool to take note of every single motion, the map became flooded with red. “Total milk run.”

There was a cracking thud. Knowing his sister, she just punched a wall. “I...” She breathed deep, recognizing that phrase from their past; the nights in the Reds they didn’t think they’d survive, dangerous missions for N7 ops, the suicide mission to Omega 4 and the run to Bahak….a phrase first used between them when batarians had raided their aunt’s home on Mindoir.

“We’re out of time. These things are getting ready to strike against their survivors. Commander Ripley is still on standby when you’re ready for her team. We’ll be careful.”

Jane snorted. “The last time you said that, we died.”

“How about I have two krogan and a Council Spectre to watch my six?”

“Better, but I really don’t need to hear about your kinky sex life. Keep it PG, eh?”

“After you tortured me with Garrus and Tali, hell no!”

Wrex grinned viciously at him and an amused Kaidan, “If I was ever to try it with a squishy human…”

Jane gagged as they both laughed. “Oh my fucking god. Fine. I’ll see you at the bar.” And she disconnected.

The bar. 

It used to be just a simple phrase for the rendezvous point they’d pick, whether it’d be post mission to check in on each other or during extreme situations. Whoever arrived first would get the drinks, because it usually WAS a bar and if not, one of them always had a flask of whiskey on them. While dealing with the Reapers it took on a new meaning: I’ll meet you at the bar, whether it be in this life or the next.

“Ok. Tell me the plan.”

Kaidan raised an eyebrow at him. “Honestly? That was it.”

“How very unlike you. Just charge in, kill things and leave?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Grunt protested.

Shepard rolled his eyes. “You’ve been hanging out with these assholes too much.”

“Heh heh. Nothing wrong with that, eh Alenko?” Wrex smacked Kaidan’s shoulder, but to his credit, the human only moved slightly from the blow.

“Is the drone finished mapping the cavern?” The biotic asked.

Shepard checked his Omni Tool, making sure all four of them were linked. “Looks like it. I have one staying in the entrance here to make sure nothing gets the jump on us. Ok, let’s head in. Try to avoid anything penetrative while in close quarters and let’s not piss anything off before we have to.”

“What?” Both krogan modeled the face of innocence as much as they could, causing Kaidan to snicker as he changed his ammo to the Mordin approved kind Shepard brought.

“Here,” the biotic Spectre sent markers to Grunt and Shepard’s Omni Tools, “The information Sara gave us.”

“Thanks. Ok, any questions?”

“Yeah, we going to do something or stand around talking about it?” This time Kaidan smacked Wrex’s shoulder with a bit of biotics behind his hand, making the older krogan stumble and grin.

The mining shaft was tight for the four of them, but still rather large considering the usual standard sizes for a mine. The closer and closer they got to their destination, the warmer it grew. Using the cheat sheet Sara had left behind for them and the drone’s information, they avoided the branching shafts that had active red dots or numerous ones. It wasn’t too hard considering the red seemed clustered in the main cavern at the deepest part of the mountain.

There were a few shifting shadows as they passed that made the humans pause and hold their breath, but either they were simply being monitored or jumping at nothing. Shepard could just imagine the beasts thinking they were doing the work for them, walking right into a nest.

Just as they neared the cavern containing the sea of red markers, humidity jumped and mist started swirling around their ankles, making it hard to see the floor. If there were any facehuggers scurrying about, they’d have to listen for them. The AI archaeologists had left lamps along the tunnel, one small mercy that they wouldn’t have to give their location away with their own lights.

Entering the cavern, it was hard to take it all in at once, but that was a good thing. Large stalagmites easily four to over ten feet in height were prominent around the huge cavern, their corresponding smaller stalactites so far above, it was almost impossible to see them. It would make for good cover but for both sides. The rock itself was a mixture of the purple soil and red stone found outside, the minerals sparkling like stars from the lamps. The edges of the cavern completely lost to darkness were dotted with something containing bioluminescence, dots of bright teal blue.

The floor had a gradual slant, and as they snuck around the first group of stalagmites, they had a view of the ancient ship. It was a large C shape, flat on it’s side, the middle half lost to rock on the other side with at least six hundred feet on one exposed side. Water pooled at the lowest part of the cavern, capturing the ends of the ship underwater.

Along the banks of the small lake were dozens upon dozens of eggs, each just over two feet tall, squat and greenish brown with a shining leather texture. They were all closed except for a few fleshy tops that were open, their unfortunate hosts dead nearby where they’d been pinned with that hardened mucus to some smaller stalagmites, the spidery facehuggers crumbled just as dead at their feet.

The edges of the dark had movement, the drone confirming active red dots. Probably the ones protecting the nest and the queen. The majority of the red seemed to come from all the eggs, still dormant without a viable host detected nearby. If they stayed away from the field of eggs, that was one disaster they could avoid. The guardians they’d have to keep a constant eye out for.

There was no sign of a queen, or any figure laying eggs that they could see.

Splitting up into two teams, Grunt followed Shepard and Wrex followed Kaidan, each taking a side. Though their helmets were soundproof, Shepard wasn’t taking any chances at being detected, not knowing how these things tracked their victims. Laying the charges was easy enough, everything had been prepared efficiently, but navigating the cavern’s obstacles and watching for the slithering gray-black in the shadows was heart pounding.

As they circled inwards, something came up on his periphery, but before he could turn all the way to see it, Grunt caught the beast and managed to snap it’s neck before it even realized they were there. Anxious, he turned back to the task at hand only to be brought up short.

A small castle of stalagmites had hidden the queen from view. Far larger than any of the other creatures, she had a large crest on her head and a second set of smaller arms. She seemed lost in her own world, completely unaware. Shepard’s eyes locked onto her, quietly and carefully sending Kaidan and Wrex the navpoint for her location, just in case. An answering navpoint alerted him to the fact that they’d been only able to go so far along the plotted route and were waiting at the entrance, covering the exit.

Taking a deep breath, he and Grunt circled around the queen’s nest, revealing the gross ovipositor attached to her. At thirty to forty feet long, it was suspended from the tallest stalagmites and the lowest part of the cavern ceiling using the same resin that they used to immobilize their victims. Pale and translucent, dozens if not hundreds of eggs could be seen, waiting to deposit from the end currently working on releasing one.

FUCK.

Eager to get the hell out of dodge, he carefully snuck forward to lay a few explosives at the edge of her castle.

The queen’s head raised as he carefully backed away, her large jaws emerging from her protective crest, as if to scent the air. Her head tilted and she gave a low hiss, arms twitching as they backed away quickly, Grunt bringing up his shotgun.

It was like she was waking from a long sleep, Shepard imagined having to produce so many eggs would exhaust any creature, but he held no pity for her. 

The shadows started slithering more and Shepard charged for their waiting team as the active red dots started converging on the disgruntled queen...and them by proxy. The queen picked up on their movement immediately and roared, struggling to stand as her small army swarmed around her, screeching and searching for enemies. Her large head was tilted in their direction when he looked back and as she roared again, the faces of at least a dozen or more xenomorphs turned to look at them before giving chase, leaving her to fight against her own ovipositor for freedom.

Biotic blue flashed as they neared Kaidan and Wrex, the Spectre reaving one beast that tried to jump on them from the ceiling while the krogan overlord brought up a barrier as he started picking off enemies calmly with his rifle.

“GRUNT!” Shepard tossed up the bag containing the remaining explosives and the krogan immediately caught it and sent it sailing towards the eggs along the shore, which were reacting to the action and starting to twitch. Some were even starting to open.

They met the rest of their squad with the beasts quickly eating up the distance between them. As they started running through the shaft, Kaidan started tapping at his Omni Tool.

Small explosions started collapsing the shaft behind them, the beasts’ cawing and screeching being swallowed beneath the thunder of falling rock and a torrent of dirt. As they ran and met more invisible check points, the detonations continued. 

Wrex and Kaidan had not been idle while waiting and had secured their retreat.

“God I love you,” Shepard gasped.

“I know.” A smirk could be heard in the other man’s voice.

“Of course you’ve seen that movie.”

“And you haven’t?”

“Incoming,” Wrex interrupted, Grunt risking a concussive shot. Acidic blood was caught and thrown along with the creature that had charged at them from a neighboring shaft as they ran up and out, the krogan duo acting seamlessly.

“When did you guys have time to practice that?” Shepard wondered.

“Tuchanka,” Grunt replied. “Met up with the old man after you turned yourself in. Thought I’d take your advice and go looking for a fight.”

“That’s...not exactly what we said.”

“That actually sounds like something you and Jane would BOTH say, John,” Kaidan disagreed.

“Kids done a good job.” Wrex grabbed the tail of a lurking beast as it stabbed out at them, swinging it around to catch it’s head against a rock and stepped on it, using a barrier to deflect the acid. “I put him in charge of Aralakh company right before Alenko came knocking. Gave us a fight we couldn’t refuse. Heh.”

Never before had Shepard wanted to be a biotic more.

They entered the cave housing Leng’s ship, Kaidan setting off the last charges as the krogan dealt with a few stragglers and Shepard raised the Tempest, the explosions shaking the ground beneath their feet.

“Oh thank god, we’re on our way,” Scott Ryder said the second the com was open. “Kandros said they’re being attacked. Something set them off and we’re out of time.”

“And the toxin?”

“Ready to launch as soon as we’re in orbit.”

“Good, we’ll detonate the explosives in the cavern as soon your ship is clear, any news from Spectre Shepard?”

“Yeah, coms are a bust, but they got the station cleared. Recalled the salarian ark to free the colonists and Raeka. She also said to contact her as soon as you-“

There was a flash of blue behind him as they reached the entrance to meet Ryder, the aborted blurt of a pistol and worse, the thunk of a helmet. Turning around, Shepard couldn’t hear Ryder’s words, or anything really, as he watched Kaidan go down, his helmet melting and bubbling in the dirt.

“KAIDAN!”

Grunt was killing the creature that had dropped from the ceiling and as Shepard ran over, he saw one of those damn facehuggers wrapped around the other man’s face, it’s tail circling around his neck as he fruitlessly tried to keep it away, the long finger-like legs flexing around his head for a better grip.

“WREX, get it off him!” Crashing to his knees beside his boyfriend, the krogan glowed blue and closed his hand in a fist before the words were even finished being yelled. The facehugger turned a matching blue, it’s legs bending outward with a disgusting crunch and it flew across the room where Grunt finished it off with a few blasts of his shotgun.

“Fuck, FUCK. Kaidan?” The Tempest could be heard on approach, Ryder trying to hail them on the com, asking what was going on. The spectre was coughing and gagging, curling into the circle of Shepard’s arms, breathing ragged, face red and bruising where the legs had been torn off with force.

They had to get him scanned ASAP. They had to get him in a cryotube or something.

Before he realized what he was doing, he was carrying the other man towards the ship as it lowered its ramp, Ryder’s team waiting with weapons ready. The Pathfinder met them at the edge of the ramp, rifle half aimed for enemies. “What happened?”

“He was attacked.”

“By what?”

A sinking feeling started in Shepard’s gut as he met Scott’s eyes. “One of the facehuggers.”

“I can’t-“ Kaidan coughed, voice hoarse. “I can’t go on board. It got inside me.”

“It didn’t have time to implant. We can get you into a tube, scanned-“

“We don’t KNOW that. We can’t risk their people. And we don’t have time.”

“Kaidan-“

“I’m sorry, John.”

“Shepard?” Wrex’s question seemed simple, but he knew the krogan was ready to fight to get them on board.

“I’m staying.” Kaidan’s hands tightened painfully on his arms as he spoke. “We’ll find some other way. Help Ryder and the others at the rendezvous.” We, not I, because he knew there was no way Shepard would leave him.

The krogan nodded and reluctantly stomped on board, Ryder’s people falling in behind them.

Scott looked at them, eyes sorrowful even as someone started lifting the ramp. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.” Already Shepard was heading them towards the Nomad, Kaidan regaining his footing as he started to recover.

As the Tempest rose into the sky, Vetra commed them, “Shepard, Ryder told us the situation. We’ve been monitoring the hangar, it’s been clear of hostiles.”

“That’s something, thanks.”

“Oh, it gets better. Hopefully. We found some cryo tubes they haven’t flown up to the arks yet. I don’t know if they’re fully functioning, but it’s a chance to ride this out.”

“You’re an angel. Update my sister and the others for me.”

“Good luck, Shepard.”

“Good luck with your people, Vetra.”

They struggled a bit to get up to the Nomad, but there didn’t seem to be any hostiles. Not wanting to risk any time, Shepard drove right off the cliff, onto Leng’s ship and then onto the cave’s floor before zooming out in a tornado of dust. 

Kaidan’s hand was tight on what he fondly called an ‘Oh Shit’ handle above the door. “I never thought I’d be grateful for your crazy driving.”

Shepard was quiet, thoughts swirling.

“You don’t think we could have repaired the damage to Leng’s ship?”

“Those things don’t have a strict timeline.” Shepard’s voice sounded hollow, distant to his own ears. “I’ve seen soldiers get implanted and those things burst out within minutes. I’ve seen a soldier we had no idea was even carrying one, fight beside us for hours before his emerged.”

Kaidan reached across the middle control panel and took Shepard’s right hand. “I’m sorry you had to go through this again. I’m sorry I didn’t see that thing scuttling after us. It’s going to be what it is, but, I feel good about our chances. And you know what?”

“What?”

“At least we don’t have to be the ones to tell your sister that we’re staying behind.”

“Fuck, I kinda feel sorry for Ryder right now.” Shepard took a deep breath and brought up their clasped hands to kiss the back of Kaidan’s hand, lips a soft contrast against the sensored metal.

It was getting dark out, the sun already below the horizon when they made it back to the row of hangars. They went straight for the bay Vetra set their navpoint for, bypassing EDI’s body. The drones kept them updated and they made it without incident, driving the Nomad right inside in a skid of dirt, using the codes Ryder sent to open the doors remotely.

“We’re finishing up on loading everyone right now. It looks like its going to work,” Ryder was updating them as they inspected the pods. Kaidan was the techy one, figuring out how to open them and get in without assistance. “We’ll disperse the toxin in a few more minutes, hopefully it’ll start killing them before they know you’re there. I sent a timer to your Omni Tools. Thanks, guys. Good luck.”

“Clearly, he hasn’t told Jane yet.”

“He’s smart.”

“Your sister does have a rep.”

Stripping down was a terrible feeling, but they couldn’t go into the pods in armor. When they were just in their undersuits, they turned to each other, both wanting to say something, both not knowing what to say.

Kaidan cupped his face and kissed him gently. Suddenly realizing there was nothing between them anymore, Shepard wrapped his arms around him, deepening the kiss even while the timer counted down.

A racket started up outside as the terraformers came online. Phase one.

They pulled away, Shepard grinning faintly as he smacked Kaidan’s ass. “Hey Alenko, did I ever tell you your butt looks fantastic in this?”

“You think it looks good in everything,” Kaidan said fondly, pinching Shepard’s. “You’re no slouch.”

“Yeah,” Shepard pulled away. “But I had to work hard for this ass.”

Smirking, Kaidan typed in the commands to the tubes, raising the lids. “Yeah. Something was hard all right.”

Shepard grabbed him and kissed him one last time. “See you at the bar?”

Kaidan nodded, getting the reference. “See you at the bar.”

Later, they wouldn’t even recall getting into the tubes. Or how they nervously waited for the gas to put them out, Kaidan searching for any strange feelings in his chest and John praying to a god he’d only half believed in since childhood.

Months later, they would wake confused as the pod doors opened, their thoughts clouded as Jane and Chakwas assisted them. Outside, the Andromeda Initiative would be picking up the pieces of their mission after the Alliance and Spectres cleared Akuze of hostiles for good. They would all mourn and move on, except for those too bitter to let go, whispering in the dark and spreading rumors about a new blight on the galaxy.

Meanwhile, light years away a lone figure sits in the dark with only the light of a dying star to illuminate him. He watches through the windows of his space station in silence, occasionally taking a pull from his old fashioned cigarette.

Heels click against the tile floor as another approaches him.

“Dr. Core. You’re late. I take it you were successful?” He turned in his chair to look at the woman stopping beside him.

“Yes. I had to be careful, but no one suspected a thing.” In her arms was a crate that seemed weightless until she put it down with a loud thud, revealing an inhuman strength.

Turning off the opacity filter on the crate, the man leaned close to see the contents: two large, leathery eggs.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this idea years ago and then was determined to write it for the MEBB. I didn’t get to spend as much time as I wanted on it, I easily could have extended it several chapters, but that’s the nature of a Big Bang for ya! Originally I was going to at least have a coda with something more mushy for Kaidan and John, maybe send them off to Andromeda, but I wanted this fic modeled after the Aliens’ movies.
> 
> Thank you THANK YOU to my beta MaxRev, I couldn’t have done this without you! And thank you to my artists Azzy and potionsmaster66 for giving it some extra flair and movie feels.
> 
> Thank you little dog Frankie, for suffering through all the Aliens marathons.
> 
> AND THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO WENT ON THIS ADVENTURE WITH ME!!!


End file.
